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| Friday, September 29 K-State gets first real test against Colorado By Todd Cooper Special to ESPN.com | |||||
As conference play begins this weekend, the Big 12 could submit its own stumper for "Who wants to be a Millionaire."
This week's million-dollar question: Who's better, Kansas State or Colorado?
The answer might not be as simple as it seems.
Unranked Colorado, at 0-3, has played a schedule as high-profile and demanding as Regis Philbin's. Meanwhile, No. 5 Kansas State, at 4-0, has feasted on a schedule as easy as the quiz-show's hundred-dollar questions.
So, who's better prepared for conference play? A team that's killed four nobodies or a team that's lost by a field goal to two top 10 teams?
Saturday's game in Boulder will answer that question, but one thing's for certain: Colorado is out of lifelines as it tries to salvage this season.
"It's a tall order," Colorado coach Gary Barnett said. "Kansas State has been so dominant against every team that they've played, regardless of what anyone would say about their schedule. It's hard to go out and play competition that isn't up to your level and still operate at a high level. A lot of teams will lower themselves. But these guys have come out and just absolutely crushed everybody. To me, that tells me they're sort of on a mission."
While Colorado's three nonconference opponents have eight wins and one loss, Kansas State's four nonconference opponents have combined for one win and 15 losses. The Wildcats have whipped Iowa (0-4), Louisiana Tech (1-4), Ball State (0-3) and North Texas (0-4) by the combined score of 212-27.
Colorado, however, has learned a lot from its losses, which can be traced to one key breakdown each game. The Buffs gave up four big pass plays in their four-point opening loss to Colorado State. They missed a couple of field goals, including the game winner, in losing 17-14 at Southern Cal. And they dropped six passes, including a sure touchdown, in a 17-14 loss to Washington.
Baylor After a 1-10 record last year, coach Kevin Steele said his team will take any winning record, even if the Bears' two wins have come against North Texas and South Florida, which just started its football program a few years ago. "We're trying to accomplish the feat of learning how to win," he said. "We've managed to get a 2-1 record. Some people would say that's not much but you've got to start somewhere. It's huge with the attitude of our players." ... A familiar name lit up a Texas football field Saturday as freshman wide receiver Reggie Newhouse had seven catches for 133 yards. Steele said Newhouse has given Baylor a "big-play threat." But Dad -- former Dallas Cowboys fullback Robert Newhouse who played alongside Roger Staubach -- was unimpressed with Saturday's performance. "He said, 'Yeah, he did OK,' " Steele said. "To Robert, that was just another game." ... Redshirt freshman quarterback Guy Tomcheck completed 20 of 28 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns against South Florida. "He set his jaw and played like a seasoned veteran," Steele said. "But in college football, the question is, 'Can you sustain it?' There's been a lot of one-game wonders." The freshman has a stronger arm than the injured Greg Cicero but he's no Cicero in terms of speed, Steele said. "Guy is not mule slow but he's not a thoroughbred either." Iowa State As the Bears prepare to play Iowa State, Steele he has grown to appreciate coach Dan McCarney's job in turning around the Cyclones' program. Steele said his Baylor program, in its second year, is where McCarney was a few years ago -- as evidenced by the number of newcomers starting. Steele has nine freshmen and sophomores starting. McCarney has two. "You can definitely tell they're further along in the process of the program," Steele said. ... When you're turning around a program that hasn't been good in two decades, you tend to chalk up a lot of firsts. But McCarney might have set a record for the number of streaks he said his team could break with a win at Baylor. "It's been four years since we last won our opening conference game, nine years since we won in Texas, 11 years since we won back-to-back road games and 20 years since Iowa State was 4-0," he said breathlessly. ... McCarney said he will stick with kicker Mike McKnight even though the junior has had an up-and-down season. After a perfect game against UNLV, he missed two point-blank field goals against Iowa. "There's no question he has the talent and the leg strength to be very effective in this conference," McCarney said. "It's a matter of him just continuing to kick with confidence and focus." Missouri The Missouri career of wide receiver Travis Garvin appears to be over. Coach Larry Smith dismissed Garvin, who led the team in receiving last year as a freshman, from the team for an undisclosed reason. While Smith mentioned Garvin had failed to meet certain criteria after his openeing game suspension due to a failed drug test, he wouldn't specify the reason. Contributing was a very public battle over a knee injury Garvin suffered in practice. The sophomore wanted a medial resdshirt because family doctors told him he has a torn ACL, but Smith said there was no tear and a member of the MU medical staff told the St. Louis Post Dispatch the MRI showed no ligament damage and it was just a sprain. Nebraska After a 42-13 win over Iowa that was closer than the score indicated, several Huskers, including captains Carlos Polk and Dan Alexander, are concerned that they're playing down to the level of their competition. With Missouri coming to Lincoln Saturday, coach Frank Solich said the Huskers better be ready to play like a top-ranked team. Solich said Missouri is a mirror image of Iowa in that the Tigers run an attacking run-stop defense and a quick-hit passing offense. ... After Saturday, you can call him Air-ic Crouch. Nebraska's junior quarterback finally delivered on his preseason goal of completing 75 percent of his passes when he went 10 for 13 (77 percent) against Iowa Saturday. His five-touchdown passing performance tied a school- and conference-record and earned him the Big 12's co-offensive player of the week honors. Crouch had completed just 44 percent of his passes in Nebraska's first two games. ... For all the passing success, Solich called for two fullback traps and one I-back handoff up the middle with the Huskers holding onto a 28-13 lead deep in their own territory in the fourth quarter, eliciting a smattering of boos from Husker fans. Fans have been vocal in their criticism of Solich's conservative play-calling at the end of games but Solich said he didn't want to risk a turnover. Kansas As they prepared for Southern Illinois last week, Kansas coach Terry Allen admitted the Jayhawks peeked ahead to their game against Oklahoma Saturday in Norman. In particular, the Jayhawks are working on dime and blitz packages. "With Josh Heupel (Oklahoma's quarterback), you're in a situation where you can't give him all day back there," Allen said. "You have to do different things to get pressure on the quarterback. You can't be vanilla with it or they're just going to absolutely cut you up." ... For all the rain, it didn't affect Kansas' new synthetic turf, called Astroplay. Allen said the weird thing about the turf, made of long plastic fibers and chopped-up rubber, is that it stays wet but it has enough grip to avoid slipping. . .The 42-0 romp of Division I-AA Southern Illinois was just the right medicine for the Jayhawks after a loss to SMU and a fourth-quarter win over UAB. The Jayhawks finally were able to play 68 players Saturday to try to develop depth as conference play begins. Oklahoma The Boz was back. Brian Bosworth, Oklahoma's All-American linebacker, gave a pregame pep talk to the Sooner players, then stuck around for a ceremony honoring the 1985 national champion Sooners, including coach Barry Switzer. "We've certainly got great tradition here and we've got so many great, great players," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "When they are around, I want players to hear what they went through and hear what they're mindset was when they played the game." ... Bosworth implored the team to create its own tradition. Create, they did. In his day, Bosworth never saw an aerial display like the one quarterback Josh Heupel led Saturday. The senior broke another OU record by netting the 36th passing touchdown of his career. ... Linebacker Rocky Calmus earned co-defensive player of the week honors with his season-best 14 tackles as the Sooners beat Rice 42-14. Calmus also had a fumble recovery and a pass deflection as OU limited the Owls to 262 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. Oklahoma State When the Cowboys travel to Texas Saturday, coach Bob Simmons expects Tony Lindsay to start at quarterback despite a shoulder that sidelined him Saturday against Southern Mississippi and has bothered him throughout fall camp. ... OSU is reeling from the 28-6 loss to the Golden Eagles, a loss in which the Cowboys had several chances to turn the tide, including a fumble at the 8-yard-line that they failed to turn into a touchdown, a safety that was nullified by a facemask and two missed field goals. "We had an opportunity to really flip that game around and gain momentum," Simmons said. "We've got to start capitalizing on those opportunities." ... With Hodges Mitchell at running back and a "pro-style" offensive line, Simmons said, he's baffled by Texas' lack of rushing success. The Longhorns ran for just 96 yards Saturday against Houston, marking the sixth straight game that they've gained less than 100 yards on the ground. . . Texas After giving up big plays in the Longhorns' loss to Stanford, Texas' defense bounced back with its best performance since Mack Brown arrived in Austin three years ago. The defense had nine sacks, three interceptions and two forced fumbles in Texas' 48-0 win over Houston Saturday. "Our defense played as well as we have around here in a long, long time," Brown said. ... Brown said the Stanford loss has taught Texas to take no one lightly, especially not Oklahoma State, which took Texas to the wire two years ago. "When you lose at Texas," Brown said Monday, "it's not a good thing." ... Defensive tackle Shaun Rogers sprained his ankle and is questionable for Saturday's game against Oklahoma State. ... The Longhorns saw two people earn Big 12 player-of-the-week honors for their play against the Cougars. On defense, cornerback Quentin Jammer posted five tackles, broke up two passes and caused two fumbles that led to scores. And Michael Ungar, a Longhorns' walkon, earned special teams player of the week for recovering a fumbled punt for a touchdown in the third quarter and for downing a pair of punts inside the 10 yard-line. Texas A&M After losing to Tech last year to begin the conference season, A&M coach R.C. Slocum expects no one to overlook the Red Raiders when they come to Kyle Field Saturday. Slocum said the series always has been evenly matched but Tech seems to have had an edge in emotions. "I've always had a little bit of impression that sometimes they get more fired up for this game than we do," Slocum said. "But I would hope our emotions will be sky high. People come out of these games saying I can't believe Tech won. But it's time to realize that Tech has won a bunch of these games." ... Slocum expects offensive lineman Billy Yates to return Saturday but junior lineman Tango McCauley and linebacker Harold Robertson are doubtful. ... Slocum said Tech's pass-happy offense scares him because of his young defensive backs. "They're riding high," he said. "They've got a high powered throwing offense and we've got a brand new secondary. We're the youngest we've ever been. Their strength is going against our weakness. So that's a big concern for me." Texas Tech It may be Tech-A&M Saturday but Red Raider coach Mike Leach has spent most of the past week answering questions about Oklahoma's sheer dominance in its 51-6 rout of the Aggies last year in Norman. Leach, who was OU's offensive coordinator last year, said people shouldn't make too much out of that win. "I've been on both sides of those things," he said. "Sometimes, things just roll your way and they kind of did at Oklahoma last year. We weren't that good and A&M wasn't that bad. It just kind of turned out that way." ... Leach said his pass-happy offense must develop a tempo Saturday after a roller-coaster nonconference slate. Leach said his offense has had flashes of great tempo, including two 90-plus yard drives but they haven't sustained it for a game. "There needs to be a sense of urgency, kind of a tempo, where you just roll along and do what you do best." ... The dry-humored Leach had the quote of the week when he commented on his team's 4-0 record after not playing Saturday. "The open date came in handy," he said, "because we're still undefeated." | ALSO SEE Big Ten notebook Big West notebook Conference USA notebook MAC notebook WAC notebook AUDIO/VIDEO   The Buffs' Javon Green hauls in Bobby Pesavento's pass with just one hand. (Courtesy ABC)avi: 1465 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | ||||
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